What is the Difference between Ultra and Extreme CF cards?

[maccagerl]

Hi-
I need to buy a new memory card for my Canon Digital Rebel XTi and I am confused about which is the best card to buy.
I was looking at the Sandisk 2G CF cards, and I can't seem to figure out what the difference is between the Ultra II and the Extreme III.
The price is about the same for each of these.
Any reason to buy one over the other?
Thanks!

 

[AndrewWG]

Ultra II cards have a "15MB/sec Read/Write speed"

Extreme III cards have a "up to 30MB/sec read/write speed"

So, theoretically, the Extreme III cards are faster to read and write. I think the most notable difference would possibly be in downloading the photos to your computer and not so much in the writing the files from your camera to the card. Cameras are limited by how fast they can write.

 

[maccagerl]

Thanks Andy!!!

 

[mhutchinson]

Cameras are limited by how fast they can write.

Yes they are, but a faster card also provides faster buffering which may allow more fps in burst mode...to a certain degree. Key is that you are restricted to the speed of the camera while taking single shots.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

The new Extreme III cards are 30 MB/s read/write, however the old Extreme III cards (of which there are still some floating around out there) are 20 MB/s read/write. If you're going to buy the III's, be sure to look closely at the box to make sure they're 30 MB/s.

 

[thomas998]

biggest difference will be the amount of time it takes for you to down load the pictures. I believe that the II would be as fast as any camera could handle so most likely the III would only speed up the download time. You should look at your camera's manual and see what it says. My wife's camera can only do continuous shooting until the card fills up if you use a Ultra II card or faster... a III wouldn't do anything but the manual is very clear in stating that... so I would start looking in there first. Most likely it would just be a more expensive card with no camera benefit.

 

[jann1033]

if i recall, the rebel xt and xti can't use the faster cards, not sure if the xs can or not

 

[DizzyV6P]

if i recall, the rebel xt and xti can't use the faster cards, not sure if the xs can or not

They can use them perfectly fine. But their slower FPS nullifies any sort of speed difference between the Ultra II's and Extreme III's. I've used both on my old Canon Digital Rebel 300D thinking they might be faster until I read a review either on Dpreview or POTN that explained that its the camera's buffer...not the memory that is the key to speed.

The price differential kills it for me. To save money, I usually just buy the Ultra II 2gigs a few at a time when they go onsale for $20 at various places. I carry an Epson P-3000 with me on vacation so I don't worry about running out of space

The other big difference is that the Extreme cards are supposed to be more durable. more shock, head and cold resistant.

 

[broberts]

Isn't there a Extreme iV out now that is a 60 m/s write speed? I think that is what I read last night.